IS [PUBLIC] HOUSING AN ESSENTIAL INFRASTRUCTURE IN NIGERIA?
Authors:
Arc. Dr. Usen Udoh & Arc. Daniel Etteh
Abstract:
This paper interrogates the existing paradigm of housing in Nigeria and how they have helped to form and shape the multiplicity of housing programmes experimented in the country. The paper questions the efficacy of these government housing programmes in view of the rising anxiety and crises of shelterlessness among the teeming Nigerian population. The paper also attempts to provide healthy debate on the need to reconceptualise housing as essential social infrastructure in Nigeria, and how macro-economic investment in housing could change the narrative. The paper has established the fact that direct sectoral financing will help vulnerable families achieve self-sufficiency and improve life outcomes while significantly decreasing costs, given the numbers. It also confirmed that the commitment of substantial Federal investment in the mechanism of a functional National Housing Trust Fund would undoubtedly bring immeasurable benefits in the whole value chain. The paper concludes that the twin elements of a rigorous, costed business case in social housing as well as the human dimension of housing as an infrastructure of care are sufficient for governments in Nigeria to place it on a par with other critical development sectors.